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John Candy

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John Candy
File:John Candy BB.jpg
BornOctober 31, 1950
Seattle, Washington
DiedMarch 4, 1994
Durango, Mexico


John Franklin Candy was a Canadian comedian and actor.

Born in Newmarket, Ontario and raised in East York, Ontario, Candy was three-quarters Scottish and one-quarter Polish descent; he played a featured supporting role (together with Rick Moranis on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late night television talk show "Ninety Minutes Live" in 1976 and a member of Toronto's The Second City comedy troupe, gaining wide North American popularity when, in 1976, he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based TV comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV).

From there he went on to star in such Hollywood movies as Splash, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Spaceballs, Brewster's Millions and Uncle Buck. He typically played characters who, while they lived somewhat seedy lives, often had their hearts in the right place. Candy was lauded by some as a true comic genius and this lay in his ability to portray an "everyman" that the audience could identify with. Candy also moved into dramatic roles by appearing in films like JFK in a very effective role as a shady fatcat attorney from the South and The Silent Partner.

In the 1980s Candy also appeared in an HBO spoof documentary titled The Canadian Conspiracy about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities.

Candy starred in a short-lived animated series in 1989 entitled Camp Candy. The show, which was broadcast on Saturday mornings and was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, also featured his children Jennifer and Christopher Candy in supporting roles. The animated series also spawned a brief comic book series based on the show and again starring Candy; also entitled Camp Candy it was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.

In the early 1990s, Candy returned to animation to record a voice for the TV movie The Magic 7. However, this movie stayed in production for a very long time, due to animation difficulties and production delays. It was shelved for quite some time, but is now due to be released in 2006, more than 10 years after the actor's death.

John Candy died at the young age of 43 of a heart attack in his sleep during filming on location in Durango, Mexico, for the movie Wagons East. He had been warned several times by his doctors to cut his weight due to his genetic predisposition to heart disease from which his father had died (aged 35) but he refused, stating that his portly frame was what gave him his film roles.

He was survived by his widow, the former Rosemary Margaret Hoban, whom he married in 1979, and their two children.

His funeral Mass, held at St. Michael's Cathedral, was broadcast live on television across Canada. He is interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

He is an inductee of Canada's Walk of Fame.

Filmography

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